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  • Title: Operational requirements for avoidance and eventual elimination of Gz-induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC) in flight.
    Author: Wood E.
    Journal: Physiologist; 1993 Feb; 36(1 Suppl):S106-9. PubMed ID: 11538505.
    Abstract:
    Fifty years of more or less active research experiences concerning the cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurologic dynamics of G-LOC carried out in healthy humans, both on centrifuges and in flight, have convinced me that on the basis of the physiology involved and because of the risk of the very high cost in pilot lives and their planes due to G-LOC, three operational requirements should be adopted as follows. Operational Requirement I. A noninvasive continuous on-line, real-time recording of arterial pulsations at brain level should be a mandatory requirement for every human centrifuge exposure to Gz accelerations that carry an appreciable likelihood of loss of vision and/or consciousness. A similar system should be a mandatory requirement for every pilot when performing high G air-to-air or air-to-ground combat maneuvers both in training and in actual combat conditions. Operational Requirement II. A physiological G-LOC forewarning system based on arterial pulsations at head level coupled with a last-resort automatic plane recovery system should be installed in all advanced fighter aircraft. Operational Requirement III. Because of the inherent biomedical hazards associated with very high Gz protection and the risk of G-LOC when in conventional upright or partially supinated positions, an automatic 9 Gz or greater activated timer, G-LOC avoidance system should be installed in advanced fighter aircraft. This system should be set to activate an auditory G-LOC forewarning signal when a Gz level of more than 9 is maintained for 3 seconds, i.e., a period less than the cerebral anoxic reserve time. Failure of pilot response, that is, maintenance of Gz levels of greater than 9 for more than 4 seconds following this forewarning signal (i.e., a total sustained very high period of 6-7 seconds, a period equal to the average human cerebral anoxic reserve time), then activates a follow-on automatic plane recovery system.
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